Minneapolis/St. Paul – Jan. 2, 2012 – Team USA Minnesota’s Jon Grey and Jamie Cheever have been selected as members of the U.S. team that will compete in the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country International Challenge in Scotland on Jan. 7.
Grey will be on the nine-member senior men’s squad and Cheever is on the nine-member senior women’s team, with the first six athletes on each team scoring at the meet. In addition to the United States, there will be teams from Great Britain and Northern Ireland running in the 8 km men’s race and the 6 km women’s race.
In December, Grey won the open men’s 10 km title at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in Seattle. A graduate of the College of William and Mary where he was a three-time All American, he joined Team USA Minnesota in September. During his collegiate career he finished 17th at the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships, was fifth at the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships in the 5000 meters, and won the 10,000 meter race at the 2010 Mt. SAC Relays.
This past fall, he placed 13th at the USA 10 Mile Championships, was a member of the University Select Team that competed at the Izumo Ekiden in Japan, and won the Life Time Fitness Turkey Day 5k in Minneapolis.
Cheever joined Team USA Minnesota last January. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, where she was a three-time All American and ran the second fastest time at 6 km cross country. During 2011, she placed 16th at the USA Cross Country Championships, posted personal bests of 10:02.18 in the steeplechase and 15:56.77 in the 5000 meters, and was ninth at the USA 1 Mile Championships.
About Team USA Minnesota
Team USA Minnesota is based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Formed in 2001, the purpose of the training center is to improve the competitiveness of post-collegiate American distance running and to develop Olympians. The athletes are coached by Dennis Barker, head cross country and track coach at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. Team USA Minnesota’s major sponsor is Life Time Fitness (www.lifetimefitness.com) and its silver sponsor is Twin Cities In Motion (www.tcmevents.org). It is also supported by the New York Road Runners and the USA Distance Project. For more information, visit the team’s web site at www.teamusaminnesota.org.